Leadership Academy

Joel Gonzalez

Building character is crucial to the overall success of a program. My off-season character and leadership program will consist of 2 phases. First phase is "character building." Without character there is no leadership. As a coaching staff we will implement a character building sessions 1 or 2 days a week with our players. Character building sessions will work simultaneously with study hall. Before we can build character we need to build accountability and it starts in the classroom. Student-athletes will be expected to attend study hall/skills workshops 2 days a week (Monday & Wednesday) for 1 hour each day. The coaching staff will participate and are expected to assist players with time management and study skills. If players need additional academic help, we will seek outside resources to provide the student-athlete with the support they need to succeed in the classroom. All student-athletes are expected to maintain a 2.8 GPA or higher in order to participate in our football program. Forcing our student-athletes to be accountable in the classroom forces them to use their time wisely in order to produce their best work. If we do not hold our student-athletes to this standard they will be tempted to make bad decisions because their is no consequence for their actions. In order to become a successful student, they must be able to make good decisions, have discipline, and make sacrifices.

Second phase is a leadership academy. All players will participate in the academy and are expected to attend 1 day a week (Friday) for 1 hour. This will work in conjunction with the first phase which is always on-going. During the leadership academy, student-atheles will participate in team building exercises. Football is a team sport and players need to learn how to work with each other. Student-athletes also need to learn how to follow before they can learn how to lead. Guest speakers will also be invited to speak to the team and mentor our student-athletes. Guest speakers may be community leaders, professional/collegiate athletes, or public officials. We will also have team discussions about peer pressure, decision making, and appropriate behavior. Having the academy on Friday, allows us to talk to our players about how to handle the pressure of teenage life and how to resist temptation. The intention is to plant the seed in their mind and this will hopefully reduce bad decisions making during the weekend. Finally, the team will be expected to participate in 2 big community service projects a year. The head coach will organize first one and the team will organzie the second. Teaching student-athletes how to be selfless is an important aspect of becoming an effecive leader. As the academy goes along, the coaching staff will identify 10-12 players who possess the foundation to become effective leaders and we will send them to a leadership program where they can refine their skills. The United States military have programs in leadership building. These players will be expected to use the skills they learned in the leadershiop program and implement them with our team.

Stephen Ferdinandi

Establishing a leadership program gives power to the players and helps build a life-long skill and behavior that will help them long after their playing days are done. Being a proper leader can also extend their playing career by learning and using the skills and understanding to put the team ahead of the individual. It also is a way to include the players in the process, and give them ownership of the success of the team on and off the field.
I would implement the program during the summer through weekly meetings on Monday for thirty minutes prior to practice with the team. We would discuss any issues that need to be addressed, and go over ways to help direct the other players in a positive way. Our school requires service hours, and in addition to the required hours, I would have the team do service at least one day a week on Wednesday or Saturday mornings. In addition to our leadership meetings and discussions; through connections, we would set up service projects with Catholic Charities, Habitat for Humanity, and a camp for elementary kids.
The pros of a leadership program include opportunity for students that might not otherwise have a leadership example, service to the community, building team chemistry and life shills.
The cons of a leadership program are that it can be time consuming, some kids might not buy into it only seeing it as work, and some might not be mature enough to handle the situation and learn from the opportunity.

Charles Wegher


I have never done a formal leadership academy as described in this course, but after completing this assignment, I feel it is an outstanding idea because the skills developed through the academy are skills that the student-athletes will use for the rest of their lives. Most kids get no formal training in how to lead, so most of them are typically pretty average or bad at it and just learn it through trial and error as they go.

The leadership academy process provides them with a formal structure and an opportunity to access the thoughts and ideas of successful leaders and to discuss leadership strategies and techniques that will no doubt have benefit to the football team, but also to the personal and professional lives of the kids long after they are done playing football.

My plan spans 18 weeks from January to May. We will meet at lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays in two rooms - the varsity on one room and the JV in the other. Each athlete gets a Leadership Manual that includes all the curriculum for the course which they are expected to bring to every meeting.

Our process will be to answer key questions each week through discussion of ideas from great leaders in politics, the military, business, sports, education and science or historical anecdotes. We will also access relevant videos on YouTube to stimulate discussion and debate.

The curriculum covers nine two-week units that will address the following goals:

1. To educate our players how to effectively lead in any organization.

2. To educate our players how to establish a positive organizational culture.

3. To educate our players how to effectively establish and enforce organizational expectations.

The course of study would be the following:

Week Topic

1-2 Defining the Attitude of a Leader

- What Is Leadership? Explore Definitions by Great Leaders

- What Do Leaders Believe? What Do Non-Leaders Believe?

- Discussion of quotations or videos about Attitudes of Leaders

3-4 Defining the Actions of a Leader

- How Does a Leader Set an Example?

- What Is a Servant-Leader?

- How Do the Actions of a Leader Inspire Others to Join a Cause?

- Discussion of quotations or videos about Actions of Leaders

5-6 Defining the Words of a Leader

- How Does One Lead with His Body Language?

- How Does One Lead with His Words?

- What is the Language of Encouragement?

- Discussion of quotations or videos about Words of Leaders

7-8 Defining Our Team Vision

- What Is a Team Vision? Explore Examples from Other Organizations.

- Why Is It Important to Have a Common Vision?

- What Is Our Team Vision?

9-10 Defining Our Team Mission

- What is a Mission Statement? Explore Examples from Other Organizations.

- Why Is It Important to Have a Clear Mission Statement?

- Designing Our Team Mission Statement?

11-12 Defining Our Team Values

- What Is a Value? Explore Examples from Other Organizations.

- Why Is It Important That We All Share Common Values?

- Discussion of quotations or videos about Values

- Defining Our Team Values?

13-14 Evaluating Examples of Leadership - Athletes will view clips of movies where different leadership scenarios are depicted, write down and discuss their responses.

15-16 Exploring Hypothetical Dilemmas - Athletes will be presented with moral, ethical and practical dilemmas to which they must formulate appropriate solutions based on the team vision, mission and values we defined in previous weeks. Responses will be discussed as a group.

17-18 Revising Our Team Rules and Policies - Using the knowledge gained in the course, the varsity and the JV will work together to write the program's expectations, rules and policies for the upcoming season. The coaches will serve as advisors during this process to provide the voice of experience and to keep the process moving at a productive pace.

Logan Sumpter

A leadership academy should be at the forefront of importance to head coaches when implementing programs throughout the year for their team. I have always believed that sports' main focus should be on the development of young men and women mentally, physically, and socially. Sports are not just about the wins and losses. Implementing the leadership program at the beginning of the summer allows the incoming freshman to be guided by the existing athletes at the school. Upperclassmen and underclassmen will have different responsibilities during the program. The upperclassman's focus is on holding others around him accountable and being a good role model to the younger athletes. The underclassman's main focus should be on learning as much as possible from the elder athletes. The program will start 2 weeks after the last day of school and lasts 4 weeks. We will meet at 6:30 am on Monday - Thursday before lifting and sports practices. The upperclassmen are in groups of 4 and have assigned athletes they are responsible for during the program. At the end of the program, each group will do a presentation on a certain characteristic of a leader that they believe is important.



Some obvious pros of a leadership program is it teaches an importance skill that is used off the field and in the workplace. It is another avenue the kids can use to come together and spend time with one another. The biggest con is some coaches do not care for the kids much and do not want to put in extra time for something that isn't being practiced on the football field.

Kyle Kilpatrick

It is extremely important to establish a leadership program. In the Leadership Program that I will create. It will be based upon the Mission, Vision, and core values of the Program. I would teach the students why we base our program on them and how they are important for the football season but more importantly for their life. As I said in my PowerPoint the purpose of the Character and Leadership Academy is to build upon the lessons of Character and Leadership from the past year and continue on a path of always getting better. It is also to enhance and maintain a culture of brotherhood and unity that will have an impact on the lives of the student athletes in such a way that they are looking to as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ - Matthew 22: 36-39. The Character and Leadership Academy will have a positive impact on the players, school and the surrounding community. We would meet bi monthly I the mornings during From January to May. The only Cons that I can think of would be scheduling. That time of the year is obviously very busy and it would put more on the student athletes plate. But the Pros are that we would be instill Charcter and leadership into the young men of our program.

Grant Solem
This off-season I had a 2 month leadership academy that I tried using Google Classroom. This allowed me to see who all has commented on questions and had turned in assignments. I ran it every Tuesday night and had short assignments for them to complete. They were usually 2 pages of reading and no more than 3 questions. They were very short, sweet and to the point. I did not want them spending a ton of time on it, but more to put the thoughts into their brain. It was much easier to run an online verison of the class because it gave the athletes freedom on when to complete them. I usually have golf meets on Tuesdays so I would have discussions going while I was in the club house waiting for those athletes to finish their rounds. ( We can hardly coach on the course so I could easily do this and still coach). I took the 3 best students from each class and they had to have a minimum weight room attendance percentage of 75 to be in the class as well. As a leader you want to influence the "influencers" so I tried to do that by getting the most committed players to become the best leaders they could be.

Nic Belloma

Leadership is a skill just like anything else that we want are athlete to have, so if we expect it from out athletes then we better be teaching it! We teach scheme, fundamentals, etc… so you better be teach leadership skills if you expect it from your athletes! We have leadership siminar class that all our Juniors are expected to attend if they plan on being a senior football player. We meet 6 times during the 2nd semester of their junior year. This class goes over the things that we expect from our seniors in the off-season and into their senior football season. We normally meet on Sunday afternoons for no more then 2 hours. The 5th sessions is on a Wednesday during an early out day of school and we send our kids out to talk with local business people, we hand out our schedules and thank the businesses for their support. Our kids are expected to dress up and be as professional as possible. We have got a lot of positive comments about this in the past. I have attached the booklet that we follow. Please feel free that save this stuff, make it your own, and re-use if you like. I also have the 6 power points that I can send to you if anyone is interested, just give me your email address and I can send it your way.

Jamie Fusaro Posted Date:July 27, 2017 8:28 AMStatus:Published.


Leadership in sports is essential. Players need coaches that demonstrate qualities of a great leader so they can step up when it is just them on the field. Amongst the players, there also must be a leader, so implementing a leadership academy, which is something I have not done but will definitely be looking to implement in the future. I want my program to really focus on what it means to be a leader. How to act, how to speak, how to carry yourself, how to develop trust, the importance of putting trust in others, the importance of setting appropriate expectations.

In terms of the pros for implementing a leadership academy, it would give me the opportunity to ensure my players are still invested with out program during the off-season, usually a time that is not planned for. The more my coaches and I are able to have an impact on the players throughout the year rather than just in-season, the better cohesiveness we will have as a group, while also pushing the values we hold dear to our program.

One of the cons, which is completely rationale, is the fact that, as a coach and an athlete, I fully believe in the multi-sport athlete because a lot of skills from different sports can be transferable. I encourage my athletes to partake in sports outside of football because it keeps them in shape, it keeps them off the street and it allows them more opportunities to learn. With that said, having an off-season program may be difficult because just as I expect my players to be committed to our team in season, I fully expect they are committed to whichever team they are on during our off-season. The difficulty would be finding time when all of my players are available to attend sessions.

For my program, I will start towards the end of year, between the end of May and June. By the end of May, all sports seasons have ended so I will have a little more time available, however, with testing right around the corner, I do not want to overwhelm my players. The program will be implement twice per week, on Monday and Wednesday from 12-1, which is study hall time for my students. I would choose this time rather than after school because I want to make sure my players have the opportunity to attend after school hours if they find it necessary.

Donald Flippin


I think establishing a leadership program in the off-season would help teammates bond and set positive examples for future players. We establish leadership programs throughout our school. One character and leadership program we have at Bates Middle School is the "Better Men Society". We encourage ALL males to attend and become part of this group, but our football players head it up. The captains each year are the presidents and vice presidents of the society. They discuss and implement ways that the football team can help in the community by serving in different projects. Some of the projects we have done is to help feed the homeless and give out "Blessing Bags" to them as well. Inside the bags are essentials they may need like toothbrushes, snacks, water, etc.

The football players also get together and set up conditioning and drill times on their own. We encourage some of the rising 8th graders to contact and gather teammates and set up a time and place for them to get together and workout on their own. This way they lookout for, encourage, and are help accountable for what they do or don't do. They take pride in getting everyone together and working toward the following season.

I think it is important to constantly teach and model good character. It starts with the professionalism of the coaching staff. The student athletes look up to their coaches and it is vital that we set the right example for character, work ethic, and attitude. The pros of having his program is establishing character and pride throughout the entire program. The students have to take pride in what they are doing, or you will not get the effort and results that you are looking for. The cons to this, is that not everyone can be at the volunteer workouts and not everyone can be a part of the Better Mens Society due to transportation or time.

To implement character and leadership, you have to make it part of your coaching philosophy and practice. You must model this behavior and make it a priority. Coaches need to lead by example, and you have to be able to pass these traits down to younger players who have the ability to become leaders and help the other players in taking pride in what they do. To take pride in things other than football as well.

Michael Logan


I think that having a leadership program in place is incredibly important.after all, we are supposed to be developing character in our athletes. My program would be centered around having various members of each level involved in a group that will go through personal training by myself. There are various books I will pull specific quotes or concepts from as well as my own thoughts on leadership. Being high school kids, there time is already stretched enough because of school and family vacations; we will meet every other week in the off season, and in season we will meet briefly before team meetings on saturdays following the game.

The members of this leadership unit will include 1 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 3 juniors, and 4 seniors. Each team, freshmen, JV, and Varsity will have their own leadership structure with team captains. In order to be a team captain you must be in the leadership unit, but not all leaders will be team captains. THese young men will be responsible for running pre-practice and post practice objectives. THey will also be responsible for leading player meetings as they call for them.

Jason Castillo  


I feel that I will use the weekdays as follows for such a program. I would like to use two days out of the week as a growth and human development days and the other two days for strength and conditioning. I believe that this is the best time to grow before the season gets in full swing. But I feel that if we can grow both physically and mentally, we can also see additional growth in spirituality, humbleness, thoughtfulness and progress towards becoming an overall better person. In todays day and age becoming a person that someone can count on and respect is something that doesn’t grow on trees and is unfortunately seems to be outdated. If we can help our young people and not just football players but everyone I feel that we will all be better off as a society.



One thing that I really feel helps young athletes appreciate all of their blessings that the Lord has given them is working with our Special Needs Students (SNS). I have been doing this as a program for about three years now and it has been one of the biggest blessings that I could have ever wished for. My athletes are becoming better men and they seem to really care about helping the SNS students genuinely. They eat lunch with them at times when the SNS students stay out to eat and they go and tutor them after school twice a week during this time period. I can see that the SNS teacher and aids really appreciate the boys too because it helps those amazing young people develop a special bond with the boys but also social skills that will help them when they get older. To me at times this is what football can really be about, the giving back and growing as a man that truly cares about his fellow man. Yes, wins and losses is what we get judged upon in this profession, but if I can help out a community of young men become men of honor and duty then I feel that I have done a great job.

Developing an off-season leadership program will benefit the team and community. Members of your team will stay involved and have a purpose year round. Understanding that they are still a part of the Football team and need to work and get better as a football player and as an individual will keep them in tune and on task. Several people have commented about working with special needs students. This is a great way to open your student -athletes eyes to a possible new perspective.

Often times, individuals will stay focused all season and then fall off the wagon when their structure and oversight is gone. As coaches, we can continue to monitor our student-athletes and give guidance through different approaches. Assigning a sports study hall can help individuals get assistance from upperclassman or individuals that have a better understanding. This creates the opportunity for individuals to lead and help others. The area of concern here would be the monitoring of this sports study hall and individuals not wanting to ask for help. Having a coach monitor this study hall and assigning tutors when necessary can help these problems. In college we had a sports study hall for an hour and a half twice a week. There was a guy sitting at a desk in the front and as long as you didn't talk, you were fine. This isn't the type of learning environment kids will succeed from. Study halls would be inserted as their regular study hall but monitored with the goal of learning and guiding. The best leaders are the ones that step up and are not appointed. During the off-season you will have work outs. During these workouts people will stand out, motivate, and encourage others to push themselves. These are the leaders that will propel your program forward and set a continuous atmosphere of working hard and leading. During these workouts, you can push your leaders to guide the others and continue to lead by example.

Using the off-season to promote and engage student-athletes creates mature individuals that will contribute more to society. Making a change in their life and "forcing" them to take advantage of opportunities they will be thankful for as they get older.

Phillip Severson

Creating some sort leadership program during the off season can reap benefits. Whether it is creating captains, character counts, 8 Keys of Excellence or numerous other programs, there are tools out there for a coaching staff to utilize There are natural born leaders, and there are others that really need to have those skills groomed a nd developed. Even the natural born leaders can benefit by leadership programs as sometimes those natural leaders do not always lead in a positive manner. No matter what program is chosen it will be key to have a meeting time that meets the needs of the majority of the players. Ideally a twice a week program starting after the Christmas break running through the end of the school year would be the best. I would go Tuesday and Thursday mornings so it would not interfere with built in three day breaks in spring and/or family 3 day weekends. I would choose mornings since it would allow those students out for winter or spring sports to be involved.

The major con would be possibly spreading multi sport athletes too thin. If you are having therm meet twice a week along with practice other sports they could get run down or frustrated with time spent. It may be better to have the entire athletic program work together on a leadership program and run it through the summer in conjunction with summer weight room work outs.

Josh Waybright

We believe that character is the difference between winning and losing. We are trying to develop young men into the future leaders of our country. It's important that they understand what they represent. They do set the tone for the school year and most administrators will tell you this same information. During the season we have two meetings each week. The first one is that we meet with the whole team and discuss leadership and character and the importance of having both on and off the field. We put a lot of pressure on our team captains/leaders to show the way so we have a second meeting with just them. Our hope is that they take what they have learned from that meeting and help apply it to the other members of the program. We have had success doing it this way and have seen a difference. We have teams that are made up of all the players in our program and they have usually 6-8 leaders each year. In the off season these teams compete in all events that we do. From lifting weights to fundraising. We expect that leader to be a voice of the coaching staff and relay the same information that we have given them to their teammates. We've had success doing this. During the season they still meet as teams, but it isn't every week. It's usually every other week. Character and leadership training slows down a little bit once the season starts. We hope that they have taken what they have learned in the off season and applied it to what they are doing in season. We still meet and discuss the importance of character and leadership but the meetings and discussions aren't as long as they are in the off season due to the time constraints we have on practice time.